


Some Ancient Call

by Webtrinsic



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abandonment, Brotherly Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Child Abandonment, Dissociation, Drowning, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Good Parent Jim "Chief" Hopper, Guilt, Hurt Steve Harrington, Jim "Chief" Hopper Being Jim "Chief" Hopper, Jim "Chief" Hopper Lives, Parental Jim "Chief" Hopper, Protective Jim "Chief" Hopper, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Steve Has Issues, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24304654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Webtrinsic/pseuds/Webtrinsic
Summary: Jim Hopper felt more things than he ever cared to admit, guilt being one of those. This feeling is brought back to his attention when he finds Steve Harrington at the bottom of the pool.
Relationships: Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington & Erica Sinclair, Steve Harrington & Jim "Chief" Hopper
Comments: 20
Kudos: 331





	Some Ancient Call

**Author's Note:**

> i need more steve harrington whump thats not a ship fic because i just cant ship him with anyone
> 
> also this fic is based on "In the Water," by Anadel and "Fear of the Water," by SYML- I suggest listening to them while reading :)

The problem with having been left alone for so long is that when people came into his life he either expected them to leave or didn’t believe they were actually there at all. They were there physically, Steve knew that well enough considering the little twirps bumped into him all the time. But the party would leave him alone eventually,  _ physically, _ when they got bored of his fancy house and full pantry. 

When they’d first started to come over to his place he wasn’t sure what they found so appealing about it. There were little to no personal touches, no photos of anything other than landscapes, and there weren't any special family heirlooms to pay any attention to. Ever since he was little Steve’s mind couldn’t help but think his home felt more like a house a realtor was trying to sell rather than a place he actually lived in.

It was a house with all its essentials, yet, it wasn’t a home. 

He could always ask Dustin, but he knew the look he’d receive in turn for his peculiar question. Plus Mike, when he wasn’t purely focused on Jane, absolutely gushed along with Will that there was so much space for them to play their game, so maybe the size of the place really was the answer.

Steve himself had a conflicted view on his spacious home, when he was young it was a grim reminder of his isolation. No parents to hug him and reassure him the long shadows weren’t out to get him. As he got older he’d disillusioned himself that the space he could use to his advantage, mainly parties and room for the kids to set up their sleeping bags and games. It’d been nice then because with the swell of bodies he could at least pretend it was a home. People having a good time sounded a lot like what he imagined a home did.

As of late the echoing halls were just that, echoing halls of listless noise. The kids were busy with god knows what, a few even off at summer camp, Dustin included, meaning he had no one to chauffer around or even attempt to talk to.

Robin had been plucked up by her aunt, taken away for things he didn’t know. He only hoped it was for something good rather than something not. He was sick of not being able to protect the people he cared about.

He’d only just graduated and the last contact with a human being he’d had was last week when Erica stopped by, she’d banged on his door until he opened up. Walking straight passed him and inside, she’d stayed for four hours, demanding they watch My Little Pony, do her hair, and teach her to bake.

Erica had been a rope for those four hours, pulling him out of the depths of isolation and forced smiles. She’d nearly caught him crying when they were making cookies, he’d lied and said it was the warmth from opening the oven door that’d done it.

He knew she hadn’t believed him but she didn’t press, in fact when she left she’d hugged him for a good ten minutes, explaining she’d be going away to a friends cabin for the summer, he cried again as soon as she was out the door.

The halls had echoed in the same manor they did now, and the memory alone was enough to send him fleeing outside. He couldn’t go outfront for obvious reasons, he’d be seen and he couldn’t let the world see him cry. That meant he could only go one place for now, the backyard.

Once the backyard had been his favorite thing about his home. It was big enough for him to practice basketball and swim in a rather grand pool. He may not have had any friends when he was younger to swim in it with but he’d been able to entertain himself.

He wasn’t the smartest person in the world but his imagination was certainly broader than most. At least he’d thought so until he came face to face with the demogorgon. Nothing in his wildest dreams-no scratch that, nightmares. Nothing in his nightmares could ever compare to the creature with a pedelled face.

Now he could hardly stand to look at the damn pool, let alone disturb the rippling waves with his skin. He didn’t dare to cross the threshold that Barbara had crossed, even if he’d only find himself at the bottom of a pool in the middle of Hawkins Indiana while she’d found herself elsewhere. Upside down.

Nancy had shouted and raved about him not taking her death seriously when it tore him up inside every hour of everyday, it’d peeled him back by the layers he’d tried so hard to put together, and made the place with the slightest bit of reprieve a grim reminder of his existence.

If anyone were to die that night, it should have been him. And if anyone else had to die to appease the monsters and keep everyone else safe, he only hoped he was available to volunteer.  To lay himself down on whatever pillar, alter, table, he didn’t care, and to just sacrifice himself. Not in a heroic way, but a logical and sensible way. No one would care if he’d disappeared, his money could go to charity or to the kids college funds and no one would dirty the house with parties, even if he’d always cleaned up after. 

His socks stuck to his skin as his body moved, eyes glassy and blank as he descended down the pool’s steps. His shins being tickled as the water welcomed him, grabbed at him as his knees soon followed.

The water seemingly as thick as blood weighed him down, thighs slipping beneath the surface making his gym shorts airily float as if warning him to get the hell out of the water but his brain didn’t catch the memo. 

Not as his hips breached the abyss and his arms stretched outwards, wading in the water until he was in the deep end. Mouth opening and hungrily sucking in the last bits of oxygen he believed he’d receive in his life before forcing himself to the bottom of the pool and closing his eyes.

It didn’t take long for his lungs to tighten, bubbles forming and popping at the surface of the water as he began to deflate. His closed eyes missing the black blotted signs of unconsciousness in the waves of blurred blue chlorinated water.

* * *

There was a lot of things Hopper didn’t enjoy, mornings without coffee, Mike, the cold, and his kids doing stupid shit. And what might qualify as stupid shit? Well he had a list, a long one which immediately toppled and burned the second he caught sight of Steve Harrington at the bottom of the pool.  He’d called the kids home phone to no avail, drove around town to the teen’s normal hangouts only to find them empty, and finally knocked on the boy’s door until his knuckles nearly bled.

Ever since Steve Harrington had put his life on the line for the kids, Hopper had felt for him. Another time he’d felt some glimmer of something other than annoyance for the teen had been many years ago.

It’d been a long and cold day, a very cold day, and he’d been driving through town praying the ice didn’t make him wreck his car when he’d seen him. Little Steve Harrington, either seven or eight years old and trudging through the snow that was threatening to swallow his small shivering frame whole.

If he’d been able to pull over he’d have marched over and picked the pale child up and ran him somewhere warm, except the little boy had managed to find his way home. To a big hunk of a house with not even the front porch light on.

The former chief had told him about that house and its owners, he’d only failed to mention the hoity toity couple had a son. 

Hopper had planned to check in on the boy the next day when the roads weren’t so terrible and there wasn’t the possibility of getting stuck in the cold. The only problem was he’d never gone back to check in on that trembling boy stomping through the snow, not until he was a teen starting fights and throwing parties.

“Damn it, answer the door,” Hopper harrumphed, he had a date with Joyce and Jane needed a sitter. Who else was he to turn to?

A curling feeling caught him in the chest, an eerie caution arising. Years of experience brought him to this, to trust and follow his instincts especially when everything in him was telling him something was so awfully wrong. Hopper found his feet moving before he even registered his knuckles pulling away from the wood.

_ Get inside. It’s not too late to check on him. You can make up for not checking in on him before. Find him. Somethings wrong. _

Rounding the corner, Hopper pulled open the gate to the yard. Quickly bypassing the pool, his hand settling on the backdoors handle before a wave of nausea overtook him, the sickness turning him towards the pool only to find exactly what he was looking for. 

A prone body at the bottom of the pool.

Hopper unclipped the heavy police belt around his waist, it clashing to the ground as he ran towards the liquid. Jumping in without any hesitation, his heart lodged itself into his throat as his arms wound around the teen’s thin body. Hopper’s boots pressed hard against the scratchy bottom of the pool making them break the surface in a splash, water gushing over the pools edges.

The chief settled the teen flat on the pavement, pulling his own waterlogged self out of the water with some struggle before assessing the damage.

Blue lips, unmoving chest, ghostly pale skin.

His meaty fingers immediately shot to the teen’s neck checking for a pulse and crying as he felt nothing. No, he couldn’t lose another kid. This child who’d put his life on the line, this child who didn’t get to be a child.

How could he have missed the neglect? How could he have let Steve slip? 

Jim could barely remember as he scrambled for his walkie, hands trembling as he pushed the boy’s bangs from his face before settling his hands on the teen’s still chest. His training kicked in, red and blue lights flashed, and sirens pierced the air.

* * *

Hopper hated hospitals, and what he hated more is one of his kids being in the hospital. A few weeks back he’d been forced to take Max due to her rolling an ankle on her board and he’d still had the nagging fear he’d be going home without a child in tow.  It was no different now. The fear remained as he sat beside the slumbering teen. A cannula fixed to his nose, IV’s in his arm, and a crease in his brow that Hopper found himself brushing against until it went away.

Kids shouldn’t just be safe, they should feel safe too.

Joyce luckily had taken in Jane for the time being, and Jim had enough unused sick days to allow him to stay at the teen’s bedside even if it was destroying a bit of his sanity in doing so. 

“Chief?” The teen’s lips wobbled around the word, his eyes barely open but fixed on him nonetheless.  Jim nearly fell out of the chair as he stood, repeatedly clicking the button to call for the nurse as he looked down at the teen.

“Yeah, I’m here kid,” Hopper assured. A nurse breaking through the doorway, rather alarmed until she set her sights on who exactly was in the room. She had loads of experience with Hopper and she’d treated Harrington before when he’d driven himself to the hospital after his skull had been cracked, so she’d liked to think she knew how to handle the two. The unlikely pair.

Hopper stepped aside as she began to check Steve’s vitals, “We want to keep you another few days for observation but you seem to be recovering nicely,” 

Steve nodded gently in response, figuring that meant he could go back to sleep. The nurse didn’t try to stop him either, it was Hopper who jumped the second his eyes closed once again.

The nurse put up her hand which stilled the chief, “I know it’s hard seeing him this way but he needs rest,”

She got a grumble in response but the chief took his seat, only to earn him a pointed look.

“Go home, I’ve watched over him before. He’ll be alright,” She assured, with the teen asleep in the bed right beside them she’d assumed Hopper wouldn’t have blown up but it didn’t stop the rage that exploded out of the man.

“No! I’ve left him alone long enough,” They were both surprised when the teen didn’t stir at his outburst, but even without him waking up it was clear guilt had filled Hopper to the brim because he sunk into his chair immediately after, his face heavy in his hands.

“If you’re going to stay you have to eat because I don’t feel like setting you up to an IV as well,” that he agreed too, the cafeteria wasn’t terribly far from the boy’s room, it’d only take him five minutes.

But a lot could happen in five minutes, so much could happen and he didn’t feel like moving away from Steve for even a second. Sensing his inner dilemma, the nurse patted his shoulder and set off to get him something to eat herself. There was no convincing the man.

* * *

“Steve!” Hopper wasn’t sure when he drifted off but Dustin certainly woke him up with that scream. It appears he woke Steve up too. The curly haired boy had jumped straight onto the sleeping teen, waking him up and obviously startling him.

Hopper yanked the boy off of him immediately, Steve rapidly flailing before his wide eyes finally realized where he was and he calmed down, chest heaving painfully. 

“Damn it,” The chief huffed, setting Dustin down and hitting the call button once again. It was a miracle the thing still worked with how hard he’s practically assaulted it earlier.

“‘Ustin?” Steve wondered, rubbing the side of his head to gather his bearings.

“Steve, you’re awake! How did you drown?” Dustin asked rather straightforwardly, crawling back up onto the bed, uncaring or unaware of how callous he was being.

Steve seemed to consider this but only gave a shrug as an answer, lifting his arm which Dustin seemed to understand because he settled easily into his friend's side.

“How do you not know?” 

“Dude I’m in the hospital, give me a break,” Steve shot back with a yawn, “And weren’t you supposed to be at camp?”

“I came home early when Will let me know you were here,” Dustin explained dutifully.

“And how did he figure that out?” Steve murmured as the nurse stepped in, checking his vitals and giving him a soft smile. Jim nearly let out a growl knowing exactly what Dustin was going to say, except it’d only make it worse.

“Hopper had to tell Joyce since bringing you in cancelled their date,” 

“Oh, sorry about that,” the teen apologized sheepishly, bunching the blankets in his hands.

“I don’t accept apologies for needing help,” It was said firmly enough to push the slight pout off the boy’s lips. Steve nodded firmly, the two knowing his dive had to be discussed, hopefully without an audience.

Dustin seemed to get the memo, slipping from his seat beside Steve and padding from the room, followed by Hopper who moved to shut the door behind the preteen before pulling the curtains until the glass was no longer visible.

“Why the pool?” The chief didn’t turn to look back at the teen, it was a small mercy for them both.

“It’s where Barb died,” that wasn’t the answer Hopper had been expecting, he’d known she’d been killed, known she’d been taken to the Upside Down, but in Steve’s pool? 

“But…” Steve started again, stopping the nonexistent words from Jim’s mouth. 

“I...I’ve been afraid of going in it since she died. Then...then it was like I was moving and I could feel the water pulling me in and I didn’t want it to stop. I didn’t want to come back out, and by the time I realized that...I was already at the bottom of the pool,”

Hopper did turn around then, sympathy in his eyes, a stark contrast to his grim face. Steve wasn’t looking at him, bleakly staring at the wall, a resigned look taking up his features. Features Hopper could barely recognise at the moment, had he really gotten so used to the boy’s face being splattered with blood and swelled with bruises?

Hopper knew the question he was about to ask may sound silly and odd for the situation, but it's a question he’d asked himself many a days before he got Jane in his life. And from past experience he knew it was a question he himself would have found ridiculous, that was until he asked it.

There was a weight to the question. A gravity pulling you down to earth, down to your knees, down to the heart in your chest, anchoring your very lungs like lead in your boots.

“When was the last time you were happy?” 

And Steve being great Steve reacted how Hopper knew he would. The teen looked at him surprised and _found out_ , he carried the weight with ease because he knew his strength. 

“I’m not sure of when, I just know the kids were safe,”

“And them being safe makes you happy?”

“Yeah,"

Hopper took a heavy seat on the chair beside the teen, a yawn breaching his lips which travelled to Steve, except his eyes pulled with fatigue and his head lolled back. Hopper intended to let the kid get back to sleep but not without one last question.

“When was the last time you felt safe Steve?”

Few things came to mind when Steve thought about it, mainly Nancy but his sleep addled mind wasn’t as guarded as his normal self, and admitted easily Nancy didn’t love him nor had she ever made him safe. 

They weren’t meant for eachother, he knew that now. He also knew the fantasy he built with her, the man he wanted her to make him out to be had only made him worse. They hadn’t been safe, even if he’d told himself they were.

“I had a nanny when I was little, I think I was six when she left but I still remember everything she taught me, maybe then,” Steve’s eyes were shut, consciousness leaving him as he fell asleep.

It irked Hopper that the answer wasn’t definite, nor was it sometime within the past decade. 

There was no way in hell Hopper was letting Steve return home to that empty house, no he’d be coming back to the cabin where there was no pool and Jane and him could keep him company.

“Will you be signing him out into your custody tomorrow?” a very familiar nurse crooned, having cracked open the door to look through.

Hopper nodded, clasping his hands in front of his lap.

“I’ll get the paperwork ready so you two can get home quickly,”

“Thank you,”

* * *

Steve didn’t question as Hopper drove past his house, he had a feeling Hopper wouldn’t have taken him back home so soon, if the man was even thinking about taking him home at all. Steve half expected that whenever he did get back to his address that the pool would be drained too.

“Jane wanted to know if you could teach her to make that pie you made at one of their...party gatherings,” it was a small way to fill the silence but it caught the teen’s attention.

“Yeah, yeah I can do that,” the teen smiled, thinking fondly of Jane and him baking with flour on their faces.

“It’d be nice,” he added soon after, and Hopper took it as a win. Maybe the road to recovery was baking pies and building a family of broken people. 

**Author's Note:**

> snap: allisonw1122  
> tumblr/twitter: webtrinsic1122  
> insta: webtrinsic
> 
> another fic where I've never even watched the show


End file.
